(OPINION) It has become glaringly obvious that we are way too dependent on our computers. The “largest IT outage in history” has thrown the entire global economy into a state of chaos, and we are being told that it could take “weeks” to fully recover.
Countless flights have been canceled, hospital services have been disrupted, online services are down for a number of big banks, and we are being told that millions of workers may not receive paychecks this month.
If a single software “glitch” can cause this much insanity, what would happen if the Internet was suddenly not available for an extended period of time?
A lot of people initially speculated that a cyberattack may be happening, but the truth is that virtually all of the chaos that we have been witnessing was caused by a CrowdStrike update…
The issue was caused by a technical problem that global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said it had identified in its software and was working to resolve. CrowdStrike provides antivirus software to Microsoft for its Windows devices.
“Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally,” Microsoft said in a statement to CBS News.
To me, this is yet another example of the rampant incompetence that is plaguing our society today. Didn’t anyone test this update before they released it to the entire world?
The CEO of CrowdStrike says that the issue has been identified and the problem has now been fixed…
In a statement, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the issue had been identified and a solution was being implemented. He added that “this is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t going to do much good for users that are now dealing with the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”…
The notorious Blue Screen of Death is popping up everywhere, from banks to supermarkets and media outlets, causing widespread panic and confusion. All United, Delta and American Airlines flights were grounded amid the chaos.
According to one expert, if you are repeatedly getting the “Blue Screen of Death” right now there “is not a huge amount you can do”… Mr Pardo continued: “Unfortunately, there is not a huge amount you can do if your computer has the blue screen of death.
“Computer users will need to wait for their IT team to resolve the issue, and many people may need to work from their phone or use a pen and paper in the meantime.
“This is a wake-up call for all the companies that have been floored by this attack. Organizations need to urgently review their disaster recovery plans to make sure they can deal with such problems.”
This tech disaster has already caused tremendous supply chain disruptions all over the planet, and CNBC is reporting that it could take “days or even weeks” to completely resolve this crisis…
The CrowdStrike software bug that crashed Microsoft operating systems and caused the largest IT outage in history caused disruptions at U.S. and global ports, with highly complex air freight systems suffering the heaviest hit, according to logistics experts, as global airlines grounded flights.
“Planes and cargo are not where they are supposed to be and it will take days or even weeks to fully resolve,” Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at supply chain consulting firm Xeneta, said in a statement shared with CNBC. “This is a reminder of how vulnerable our ocean and air supply chains are to IT failure.”
We certainly didn’t need this right now, because our economic numbers have already been heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly. Meanwhile, the airline industry has been thrown into a state of complete and utter chaos…
Over 1,800 flights had been canceled within, into or out of the U.S. as of Friday morning, and more than 5,000 others were delayed, according to the flight tracking service, FlightAware. Globally, more than 28,000 flights were delayed early Friday. (READ MORE)
